Tag: Stephan Bonnar

On Jan. 17, 2005, Spike TV aired a new show titled The Ultimate Fighter, which featured 16 combat sports athletes living under one roof in Las Vegas, competing for a six-figure contract with the UFC. What we didn’t know, however, was this exhaustive program was going to last over 20 seasons, complete with the FOX treatment, and plenty of drunken debauchery in between.

Long story short, the Zuffa brass was in serious trouble since their big gamble to buy the struggling Ultimate Fighting Championship wasn’t paying off. Simply put, that Fertitta money was being blown fast, with no real profit or indication of improvement. Spike TV founder Albie Hecht wanted a program that brought in a lot of viewers from all over, presumably because there are only so many reruns of the hyper masculine shows a person could watch.

Below are some of the UFC legend’s fighter’s tweets, mentioning he was pulled over and broke his nine-month reign of sobriety (the tweets have been deleted, so props to MMA Junkie for the transcriptions):

On some level, we respect Ortiz for not breaking kayfabe; most other MMA fighters would have hugged it out with Bonnar afterwards, then told the crowd that all the animosity and harsh words were just to promote the fight. Ugh. But the California State Athletic Commission did not appreciate Ortiz’s realness, and fined him $2,500 for his antics.

That $2,500 hit represents less than 1% of Ortiz’s reported $300,000 salary from the fight, so don’t shed any tears for the Huntington Beach Bad Boy. Bonnar’s reported salary was $100,000, according to figures released by the CSAC. You can see the rest of the Bellator 131 salaries here — though they list Melvin Manhoef and King Mo as making just $10,000 from their fights, so take those numbers with a grain of salt.

In the MMA marketing game, the list of tactics used to promote a fight card goes something like this:

1. Bring in a recently disgraced legend from your more popular rival promotion to play skeeball/sign autographs.

2. Everything else.

Unfortunately for Bellator, option 1 is no longer on the table, as Wanderlei Silva has been contractually cock-blocked from appearing at their Dave & Busters party this Friday. So with their backs against the wall, Scott Coker’s crack team of ad execs have been forced to reach deep into their idea banks to promote this weekend’s Bellator 131 card. The results have been nothing short of hilarious — like something Jackie Moon would come up with if he was stuck in a creative slump.

Bellator kicked things off in style last night with (what I can only assume was) their first “Taco Tuesday” event, hosted at Dave & Busters and MC’ed by Bellator colorman Jimmy Smith — who I absolutely refuse to talk trash about because he seems awesome. If you hadn’t guessed, “Taco Tuesday” pitted 10 or so diehard MMA fans against one another in a taco-eating competition, with the winner earning a ticket to Bellator 131. And right now, AS WE SPEAK, the promotion is hosting a scavenger hunt across San Diego for, you guessed it, tickets to Bellator 131.

After the jump: Play-by-play analysis of said scavenger hunt (not really), and a few of our ideas about how Bellator can promote themselves in the future.

Things seemed to have calmed down a bit between Stephan Bonnar and Tito Ortiz following their plain cartoonish “brawl” at Bellator 123. Now less than a week out from their Grudge Match for the Ages at Bellator 131, the time for trash-talk has come and gone, thankfully, and the time to get this damn thing over with is nearly upon us. Now if only we can finish this sentence uninterrupt-

(*checks earpiece*)

What’s that? Tito’s saying what? What do you mean a spy is involved? (via Ortiz’s interview with MMAWeekly):

Well, it really came down to a plan, an idea that I thought would work, worked perfectly.

When I first signed with Bellator, I guess Dana (White) and Bonnar kind of had an idea that if they called me out, I would come back to the UFC and fight. And this was a year ago that this happened. And I wasn’t going to let that happen.

I wanted to fight in Bellator, so I signed with Bellator and I thought in my mind, ‘How can I get Bonnar to Bellator to finally shut him up and smash him after the things he said?’

And sneakily on my side, I got (fighter manager) Dave Thomas to sign him. Dave Thomas signed him and we had to think of something to make him believe that Dave Thomas doesn’t like me, that Paul Herrera didn’t like me. Paul Herrera was going to coach him. And Stephan Bonnar bit the line, hook and sinker. He thought in his own mind that all of his guys were against me and I fooled him.

And now it’s a week out from the fight. I know how his training camp went. I know the ins and outs. So he just got baited. That’s how bad I want to cave his face in.

I know it’s only Monday morning, but are you guys ready to have your f*cking minds blown?!! Because it turns out that, contrary to the opinions of almost everyone who witnessed it live, the super awesome Stephan Bonnar-Tito Ortiz brawl at Bellator 123 *might* have been pre-planned. I know, right? So sayeth Bonnar himself:

Listen @Lowkey1324, @titoortiz is a self absorbed ego maniac.The world needed 2 know.Tito, Coker, @BellatorMMA & @SpikeTV, didn’t know shit! It was all me & @JustinMcCully. If u wanna hate us 4 pulling a pro wrestling esque promo off while calling tito out on the BS he’s pulled on people over the years..Then by all means, go buy yourself some punishment gear, a front row ticket, and be sure to bring a rain coat, cuz things r gonna get bloody.

Well I don’t know about you guys, but I am shocked. Shocked I tells ya!! I could have sworn that cornrows rapist mask executioner mask guy was legitimately just there for moral support, and that Bonnar’s hi-larious Jenna Jameson jokes were ripped from the top of his dome, but now I feel cheated. Embarassed for the sport, even. So I say shame on you, Stephan Bonnar, for toying with our emotions so carelessly during an otherwise pleasant evening of fights. I can’t even look at you anymore, and it’s not just because you’re making that face again.

But I’m sure we’re all still wondering, whose idea was the f*cking rape mask? Well…

Except it wasn’t the end. According to a report from Ariel Helwani, Bonnar has signed a multi-fight contract with Bellator, and may also do some broadcasting work for the promotion on Spike TV. Bonnar’s debut date and opponent haven’t been revealed yet, but the rumor is that he’ll be fighting fellow UFC HoF’er Tito Ortiz, and he’s already angling for the match:

“I want everyone to know I’m coming out of retirement because it’s time to free the MMA world of the virus that’s known as Tito Ortiz,” Bonnar said in a statement provided by Bellator. “We’ve been suffering through his boring fights for too many years, and it’s about time that someone beats it out of him once and for all.”

Just four months ago, Bonnar told BloodyElbow that he wouldn’t fight for any other promotion besides the UFC, and that he’s currently enjoying his new life as a day-trader. (“It’s about loyalty,” Bonnar said. “More than anything, I take pride in being a part of the UFC and I wouldn’t want to screw that up.”) Well, loyalty only goes so far when Spikeforce is dangling a huge paycheck in front of you.

The Details: Replaced Alistair Overeem against Antonio Silva at Strikeforce: Barnett vs. Kharitonov (09/10/2011).Why He Makes the Top Ten: It’s hard to believe that just under three years ago, Daniel Cormier such an unknown prospect that sportsbooks didn’t even bother creating odds for him to win the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix, despite creating odds for Ray Sefo and Valentijn “Othereem” Overeem; a $20 bet on Cormier “FIELD” to win the tournament would have netted you $1,000. But when Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion Alistair Overeem injured his toe/realized fighting in the tournament was pointless and pulled out of his scheduled bout against Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva, Cormier handled Silva so effortlessly that it was impossible not to take note. Cormier would go on to defeat Josh Barnett for the tournament title, and the rest is history.Why He Isn’t Ranked Higher: While Cormier may not have been high on our radars at the time, it’s hard to call an Olympic wrestler an “unknown prospect.”